Text 1382, 103 rader
Skriven 2006-11-24 11:10:00 av PETER COGGON (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av BOB KLAHN
Ärende: 10-Q-codes& Plain E [1/2]
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 >>> Part 1 of 2...

Hello Bob,

 -=> Quoting Bob Klahn to Peter Coggon <=-

 BK> You addressed this to Roy, but it seems more likely you meant it
 BK> for me.

   I should of read the BKs and RWs closer <G>...they were all over
the place.... Almost like tuning across the CB  27.125mhz on Christmas
morning...when all the steel grass comes on the air...what a howl.
 
 bk>>  As a ham, and commercial license holder, I knew full well the
 bk>>  FCC prefers plain english.
 PC>   The DOC here in Canada for GRS <CB> issued the very same
 PC>   handbook for CB'ers here, as they gave those of us,
 PC>   innvolved in our Civil Defence system  <EMO>.    They
 PC>   didn't want 10 codes, and no Q codes, even if the Q code
 PC>   in CW could pass the meaning faster.

 BK> For emergency use one person not understanding a code could cost
 BK> as much as the codes save. With CW, of course, everyone involved
 BK> has to be trained. Not so with voice.
 
  The use I refer to is with VHF and UHF radios.   As far as I knew at
the time, CW was pushed for EMO here when using the short wave bands,
and training at a higher level was intense, due to the many threats
in those years.

 BK> I never much cared for CW. Which is funny, cause all my rigs are
 BK> CW. I do vastly more hardware hacking than operating. I have a
 BK> number of rigs that have never been on the air. Doesn't stop me
 BK> from building more. All QRP, very simple ones.

   I wanted to go for CW.  When I got there, my first day on, I got
lost.  I copied the callsigns and well after that things went downhill.
Then I got my neighbour who is well trained, and he told me <G> that
it was all abbreviations and this and that, and that meant learning 
even more.  I did get a few straight language people, but that was the
end...not interesting, and I had to print and well my paper desire for
copy caused too many trees to be cut...My garbage can was big and full
so I dropped it all.... Too bad :(

I like the QRP too...I like the camping and QRPing. Wish there wer
more in this area interested.

 BK> The test is really aimed at "amateurs". Not pros. When I was
 BK> stationed in Hawaii the FCC gave the commercial test on Monday
 BK> mornings. One monday I was off work, woke up early, and decided
 BK> just to go down and take the test. Passed the 2nd class no
 BK> problem. The first I didn't pass, cause I had no training in
 BK> commercial broadcast, but I could tell from looking at it the
 BK> 1st class commercial test was easier than the 2nd. I also took
 BK> the radar endorsement test, again, no training at all. That also
 BK> I could see was easy, but I didn't have any background. The next
 BK> time I took the test, like 6 months later, I got them both. I
 BK> bought a study guide for the 1st class test, and memorized all
 BK> the schematics. They had tube circuits on the test then. Don't
 BK> remember any of them now.

   Somehow Bob...the above looks too familar.   It seems to be echoed
on the bands everyday I listen in, to this or that station telling
his life story.

 BK> Hey, when you get paid to do what you do as a hobby. Couple days
 BK> ago I had done a 12 hour day, was after 10PM, facing another 12
 BK> hour day the next day, and the night man called with a problem.
 BK> I gave him some suggestions and told him to call me back and let
 BK> me know how they worked. Didn't help, so I got ready and headed
 BK> in to the plant. I was just about to get on the expressway when
 BK> my cell phone rang. Pulled into the nearby gas station and he
 BK> said they got it running. SO I turned around. Still lost some
 BK> sleep.

  Yes I guess so....you have just stated what I have heard from
a close friend and amateur who is snagged everytime there is
a panic.
 
 PC>    That is too too bad.    Our schools up here used to add
 PC>    the ham knowledge as a plus.
 BK> Used to be respected. Now it's more like forgotten.

  Explains why I  have not seen too many ham antennas on school
rooftops.  The school Ham Clubs are dead...Long live the Internet
...yikes!
 
 PC>    Before I leave.....Bob...I hear you lived near
 PC>    Toledo,Ohio.... is that true?   If so, then we could
 PC>    have met on my many trips to see family in Indiana.    I
 BK> If you went on the Ohio Turnpike you went about 5 miles south of
 BK> me. Or less.

   Yes...sounds like it.   Usually really early in the morning,
so as to arrive for breakfast, and on the return to Canada we
are thru your area as I hear folks off to the local coffee shops.
 
 BK> I haven't been on the air for years. Used to do 2 meters a lot.

 >>> Continued to next message...
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